Are You Ready to Evolve?

Are You Ready to Evolve?
by Pegine Echevarria

Are you ready to rumble? Are you ready to evolve? Are you ready to say this is it? Are you ready? I remember racing with friends when we were small. On your mark, get set, GO! Sometimes we just weren’t ready. Back then we would stomp our feet, or shout to the others, “NOT FAIR, I wasn’t ready!” Do you still do that? The promotion was offered and you thought, “I can’t, I’m not ready!” The perfect house was available but you weren’t ready. The perfect staff assistant was in your midst but you weren’t ready for her.

Why weren’t you ready?

How about now, are you ready? What do you need to do to get ready? Most people think that the first way to get ready is by having the stuff. They complain that they don’t have the credentials, the experience, or the money. However, getting ready begins way before that. It starts with your head. It starts with your intentions. It starts with your commitment. It starts with your willingness to do whatever is necessary. It begins with believing you are ready and will do everything you can to become better and better prepared.

What does this have to do with your career, your role as leader and who you are? When I teach the program, How To Communicate Your Value, I share that one of the ways you communicate your value, while also assessing your value, is to determine how you have evolved. You get ready when you decide to evolve. One year ago where were you and where are you now? What is different about you? What have you learned about yourself and what did you do about it?

It goes back to being ready. A year ago you noticed something about yourself that you didn’t like or wanted to change. Maybe you spent more money than you earned. Maybe you didn’t like speaking in front of people. Maybe you were unhappy and wanted to be happy. Perhaps you were tired of being ignored and not noticed.

As a leader you noticed that your team was stuck, there was conflict, people weren’t cooperating. You were ready for a change.

So you decided to change. You realized it was up to you and it didn’t matter how long it would take, you were going to change. That is evolving. That is evolution.

Once again it is time to evolve. You know there are areas in your life you can change this year. There are ways you can grow or evolve. Once you find your area seek a book that teaches how to overcome that issue. Then plan on implementing the process, and here is the difficult part—just do it.

  • You can become disciplined in your time, ensuring you accomplish your goals through daily action steps.
  • You can learn how to network more effectively with others. Take classes. Read books on networking. Daily, review what you learned and how you implemented the changes.
  • You can live within your means. There are some great books about debt free living.
  • You can earn more money. Anyone can learn to take control of your earning power.
  • Bring romance into your life. Stop waiting for the other person to initiate the romance, begin the process yourself.

As leaders we can evolve by taking responsibility for the quality of our team.

  1. Learn how great leaders invoke camaraderie and a strong work ethic. Read about Sir Shackleton.
  2. Understand that your customer drives your success. How can you make your company more customer focused?
  3. Take your team through an assessment process so you all know who you are and how you can lead them effectively.
  4. You can’t lead if you are not evolving on your own. You must be the role model and share with your team how you are evolving. Let others know that you value evolution of self.

While you can read the books, evolution requires daily work. For me that means study, reflection, writing (journaling), implementation and evaluation.

In one year how will you evolve? What will be your evolution?

Try-it:


Joel Osteen writes, “I am what I am today because of what I believed about myself yesterday. And I will be tomorrow what I believe about myself right now.”

Answer these questions:

  1. Last year, what did you believe about yourself?
  2. Are you that person now?
  3. How did your belief create your reality? (If things aren’t going so well what was your belief about your life and your self? If things are going great analyze what you believed about your self and life.
  4. What did you believe about your boss, your teammates, coworkers or current work situation?
  5. How is this reflected in your environment today?
  6. If you are a manager, what did you believe about your staff? What were the words used in thought and expression that described your team?
  7. What did you believe (think) about your management style? Were you confident or controlling out of fear of failure (or success)?

I can’t answer these questions for you. You have to take the time to evaluate yourself and your beliefs.

Once answered (write out your answer), ask yourself the following: What do I need to believe (think) so that next year my life, career, team or staff has phenomenal, positive results?

The sad part is 93% of my readers will not do this. I know it sounds corny. I know it sounds touchy-feely, however, it works.

In Napolean Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich he details how Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie, and John D. Rockerfeller all used similar techniques. Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame describes a similar technique in his book The Enlightened Millionaire so does Seven Habits guru Steve Covey. Budda, Jesus, Moses and Confucius have parables describing the process.

Kick-butt action:
Look around your office or workplace. Notice the things that can be improved upon. Changes that can be made to make your team, your office, or your work life better. Choose two areas you will be responsible for changing (you do not need to share it with the world). Perhaps it is the attitude, the décor, or a way to make everyone be more productive.

Create a plan:

When you achieve your goal what will be different? How will people react?
What do you need to do to get there?
Who do you need to assist you?
How long will it take?
How will you know you achieved it?

Then do it — see Have You? for an idea.

Have You?

I work with large organizations whose offices usually consist of rows and rows of cubicles with offices lining the walls.

Most of the time the walls are beige or white with cubicles of grey, beige or brown. There is a maze of rows. Often I am led through an office by someone who invariably says,
“A person can get lost in here.” They will pass people in the hall and not acknowledge them or be acknowledged.

Have you ever noticed that there is a lack of community or sense of belongingness?

Here are some solutions to change the environment.

Name each level a community name (Floor 22 is Terrace Town, Floor 23 is Sky Blue Centre). Have street signs posted at every corner on the outside walls of the cubicles or hanging from the ceiling. Names can be Customer Lane, Solution Place, Service Street, and Prosperity Blvd.

Use the terms for directions.

“Go to Floor 23 which is Sky Blue Centre, make a right to Customer Lane, a left at Solution Place and a right on Prosperity Blvd. My office is the third on the right.”

Teams within each section can be part of the street naming process. The words must be positive, empowering, reflecting what the area does and not be someone’s name. The signs ought to be bright, easily readable from a distance and posted correctly.

Thought of the Month:
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” — Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Magazines describe Pegine as one of the top motivational success and leadership experts with business and team building experience! Her teambuilding and motivational programs are experiential, fun and filled with content. Companies use her to motivate people, develop strong leaders & teams, and increase productivity. For more success, leadership and team building information visit her website at www.pegine.com.